Brodie Neill’s Positive Design for Reimagined Timber.

Brodie Neill photographed at Reliance Veneers Stamford Hill by Mark Cocksedge.

ReCoil by Brodie Neill. Photo by Angela Moore.

Premiering at London Craft Week, Design Tasmania presents Brodie Neill’s new centrepiece table, ReCoil. Crafted with Hydrowood timber harvested underwater from Tasmania’s lakes, ReCoil invites us on a journey of the reimagined, continuing Neill’s quest to recontextualise both our relationship with materials and the natural world.

ReCoil expresses a connection to place, time, and identity, through the island’s rugged beauty and natural timbers. This highly polished, elliptical table made from Hydrowood veneer off-cuts, displays rich tones from honey to burnt umber that celebrate precious timbers native to Tasmania such as Huon pine, Eucalyptus, Tasmanian Oak, Celery Top Pine, Sassafras, Myrtle and Blackwood.

Hydrowood is one of the world’s first underwater forestry operations that reclaim submerged timber, inaccessible for years, from natural forests flooded for hydroelectric dams. PEFC certified and ethically sourced, Hydrowood has a story and character like no other, with Neill championing the by-products of the veneers industry in ReCoil.

The reclaimed timbers were cut into veneers at Stamford Hill’s Reliance Veneers factory. Then from his London studio, Neill hand-coiled over three kilometres of the veneers, in an intensive handmade process suggestive of coming full circle. The pattern pays homage to the annual growth ring formations of the treasured old growth trees.

“The world of waste is plentiful, with limitless potential to recycle,” says Brodie. “No longer do we need to sacrifice the environment in the harvesting of its natural resources. My intention, through these works, is to start conversations about recontextualising what we have. Above all, it’s about creating objects of hope.”

A retrospective of Neill’s major works, Continuum, shows alongside to explore the upcycled, recycled, and material circularity, within refined designs. ReCoil is presented as part of the UK/Australia Season 2021 – 2022, a major programme of cultural exchange taking place across the two countries, presented by not-for-profit design advocates Design Tasmania with Hydrowood in partnership with the Tasmanian Government.

ReCoil and Continuum run until 27 October, at 6-7 Motcomb Street, SWI XJU. For more information, visit brodieneill.com.

The making of ReCoil at Brodie Neill’s studio. Photo by Mark Cocksedge.

[Images courtesy of Brodie Neill. Photography by Mark Cocksedge and Angela Moore.]